Baby Is Constipated-what to Do?

They have glycerin suppositories for these cases. Though you dont' want to get her used to these and only use it this one time and then maybe again in a few weeks but they work like a charm. Also, try giving her juice and prunes from Gerber. This totally helped my daughter and to this day (14 months old) she still has poop issues. I'm happy if she goes 1 time a day.

Karo Syrup is not like honey at all, except that they are both sweet. :-) I tried the Karo Syrup with my DD when she wasn't pooping, and it worked like gangbusters. One tablespoon in two ounces of warm water. Be ready for a blow out.

They sell an over-the-counter glycerin suppository for the little ones. Ask the pharmasist. Sounds gross, works great.

Hi, use mineral oil in her formula or juice. I am not sure how much but a pharmacist would know the dosage.Then, get ready to clean up. Good luck.

Hi - 12 years ago when my son was constipated we would put a couple of drops of Karo syrup in his bottles.

YOU need to eat a bunch of prunes. Drink the juice. Etc.

Also, keep track of what you're eating when this happens. See if there's a pattern.

Also, I found it helped to rub some diaper cream around that area, maybe even a bit in (with a Q-tip) in order to stimulate the movements.

Don't give your kid sugar. Just stock up on the prunes. It really does help.

Ijust turned 52 years old and when I was an infant there was no such thing as formula. We were breast fed or another alternative of nutrition: evaporated milk and karo syrup. Myself and 6 siblings (all older than me) are still alive and well. Your babies doctor has studied for years(specifically a pediatrician) to learn about treating your baby, and I don't think he/she would offer you something for your baby that is harmful. You don't say who you have heard the bad things from, but I would bet it wasn't from a doctor.
Your other alternative would be prunes mixed with the formula, and lastly, you should take a look at what YOU are eating:) Good luck, raising children is one of the hardest things you will ever do in life, but also the most joyful and rewarding.

I went through the same thing when my daughter was about 2 months old. I used Karo syrup in her bottle. I had called her doctors nurse, who said she talked to the doctor and gave me instructions on how much syrup to put in her bottles. When I saw the doctor (a few days later) and told her how much syrup I had been giving her, she couldn't believe the nurse told me to give her that much and that she had never told the nurse that. My daughter is now 1 and is perfectly healthy. She never had anything bad happen to her from using the syrup (even too much syrup). I understand you are hesitant, but hopefully this is some comfort to you if you do decide to use it! Good luck!
B.

When my son was a bit older than your daughter, I gave him a spoonful of baby prunes and it worked very well. Since she's probably too young to get even a spoonful of babyfood down, maybe you could try a few teaspoons of prune juice watered down in a bottle. A little goes a LONG way.

Good luck!

get prune juice my son was severly constipated at a few weeks old as well. just be on stand by with diepers and wipes. my mom aslo found baby suppositorys when he was a few months old. as grose as this is use the suppository to lube around the inside of her butt and maybe leave it in for a minute, that's usually all it takes. also put her over your shoulder so her butt is out but not being held. if it is a constant problem a little bit of prune juice evryday or few days won't hurt her. now that he is older i give him childrens metimiucil some times.

This won't cure it, but one thing to do along with some other suggestions, is to let her soak in the bath - get some warm water on there because it can help to relax the muscles. Good luck!!

Hi T.,
I am sorry to hear your little one is feeling bad. My baby girl who is now 12 months has had many times she was constipated. It is very painful for her and for me! I even took her to emergency when she was just 7 months when she had not "boo booed" for 3 days and was clearly, backed up and in pain. Now I know what she needs in her diet to remedy her constipation. Lots of fluids. You mentioned that you nurse, maybe also give her water until she is no longer constipated. I give my baby watered down fruit juice. Just a teaspoon of Karo syrup in her(milk)will also do the trick. My baby is on solids now but I gave her prune & apple baby food with each feeding to keep her regular. Lastly, I would help her out by lubricating her anus area with aquaphor (waterbase lubricant) so it is more comfortable when going to the bathroom. Hope some of these suggestions may help!
Regards,
A.

You can give her Miralax in her bottle. My granddaughters pepediatritian told them to give that to her and it works great.

T.,
There is a product online or at healthfood stores called Baby Calm by Peter Gillham. It's a magnesium supplement that works within 24 hours. It is a necessary mineral that is largely missing from the US diet. It activates hundreds of enzymes and allows the body to absorb nutrients from food and help eliminate properly.
Follow the directions on the label and increase little by little everyday until her stool is comfortably loose.
When I found out about this, I ran out immediately and found it. My little guy was suffering something terrible. By the next day he was totally fine and has been ever since.
Blessings,
C.

Hi T.,
I googled the karo syrup cure and got this.It came from Dr. Hull. I hope it helps. Blessings to you and your little one.

Treatment of constipation mainly involves common sense diet modifications and sometimes medication:
Again, as with breast fed babies, a search for the cause of the constipation and gentle rectal exam can work wonders.
I use a lot of Karo® corn syrup for bottle feeders with constipation. It is my first choice recomendation; it almost always works if used properly. Unfortunately, many doctors and nurses don't use it properly, get poor results, and don't recommend it as often as they should. I start with two measuring teaspoons in every formula bottle, regardless of size, and adjust the dose up or down depending on how things are going. Usually, the baby can be weaned off the Karo pretty soon, but may need to stay on it periodically for the first few months of life. It is very important to put the corn syrup in the formula and not give it in between in water. The excess corn syrup does not get digested very well - the baby is already digesting all the sugar he can from the formula. The excess sugar passes down to the colon and produces a sugar diarrhea similar to sorbitol (as below, prunes, apple juice).
Before scolding me about "the risk of botulism" from corn syrup, please see:

Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Volume 4,Number 3,September 2003: "Pediatric neurologic potpourri: cases to remember"

"In the past, C. botulinum was also found in corn syrup, but this is no longer a risk factor for infant botulism because of a recent change in the processing formula."

For the complete source of statement, see: Olsen SJ, Swerdlow DL. Risk of infant botulism from corn syrup. In reply. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2000;19:584-5.

My daughter had similar problems when she was very young. Turns out that Mylicon (sp?) gas drops can help lubricate things.

8 weeks old is little, poor sweetie. I would suggest that you drink tons of water yourself to really increase your milk. If she nurses enough, the issue should resolve. We used the natural gripe water for our boy when he was gassy and it helped.

Good luck, it's hard to see your wee baby in pain.

I.

Hi T. P.,
It is not good for your baby to not have a bowel movement every day. The toxins build up in the system.

Are you drinking lots of water and getting enough fiber in your diet? Is she drinking any water?

You want to drink good filtered water that has nutrients put back in it or your body is not absorbing it.

If you want some pointers on how to keep your baby healthier email me and I will educate you.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

N. Marie
____@____.com

First off I can relate I feel so bad... How old is she? My son went a few days without having a BM and it was scary.. I got some childrens laxitives from the store and cut the laxitive in half and stuck it up the rear. Gross I know but it will get the job done. It usually works within the next hour. Make sure you find it in the childrens sections and it looks like a stick just cut the stick in half. Be sure not to use the whole thing. I used this for my son when he was a couple months old and it worked like a charm. If this isnt something your interested in doing also try and use 1 or 2 oz of juice (apple juice, cherry juice) and give it to her. Juice works as a laxative. If non of this helps what so ever then I would consult with a doctor. Have you tried gass drops? What is your diet. If you drink alot of acidic foods or drinks like sodas that could honestly make her super gassy. Maybe theres something in your diet causing her to become constipated? I would try taking out certain foods. I hope this information somewhat helps. Hang in there.

Have you considered just a few drops of prune juice? You may also try watching what you eat. My oldest had a severe dairy allergy when he was a baby. Thank God he out grew it! But I really had to watch what I was eating. As what you eat is passed on into your milk it would only make sense to increase your intake of fibrous foods to see if this helps.

Try massage - gently massage in a circular fashion starting at above the navel, move clockwise - there are some other strokes you can do as well - check out infantmassage.com or a local infant massage class as resource - this helped by little one when she was constipated and only a couple months.

there is a product called colic calm. it is a homeopathic liquid that passes through their system and helps calm baby and help them to have a poo. you can order it online at coliccalm.com - it is a little pricey but i won't be without any!!! i just ordered 4 bottles. it eases my daughters discomfort and helps with constipation, gas and colicky behavior. good luck.

Try babies magic tea and also drink yourself. It will relieve your DD. I used this tea with great results and will ask every mom with tummy troubled baby to try it.

I feel your frustration T.. My youngest daughter is now 6 months old and I went through the same thing. I did use the Karo syrup and at first it did work, but eventually not so much, I even used suppositories on her. The doctor told me to give her Karo syrup at every feeding, but I didn't like the idea. I eventually switched formulas and it finally stopped. You said you are breastfeeding now, if you just started doing that full time give her some time for her digestive track to adjust. At that age she needs to have consistancy in what she is eating. Good Luck!

Dear T.,
People have been giving their babies "sugar water" for years. Obviously it's not a replacement for nutrition or nursing, but it won't harm your baby. Drinking water in and of itself can help with digestion.

My pediatrician told me to use glycerin suppositories for babies. They're very tiny and I just used half of one at first to see what would happen. It really worked. My daughter needed them as a baby but my son never did even though I made sure to have some on hand just in case.
They melt very rapidly in a warm baby's tushy and have a tendency to want to slide right back out. So, I just held my little one's cheeks together to be sure it stayed in for a few minutes and then put a diaper on her. They really do work and by no means are meant to be used every day. I only had to do it a couple of times until my baby's system got things sorted out.

Best wishes.

Hi T.,

I have twin boys that just turned one year old. When they were about 3 months old, one became constipated. I began taking him to the chiropractor for adjustments and I also added probiotics to his diet. At that time, I used a probiotic called Bio-K. It was dairy based. I put a small amount on my nipple before he nursed and I did this at least once a day. That did the trick. Now, both twins are on a powder based probiotic from Genestra Brands (HMF powder). I just add a little to their bottle once a day. I take probiotics and my 5 year old also takes probiotics. In addition to aiding digestion, it is a GREAT way to boost the immune system, especially during the winter months. A very large portion of the immune system's responses occur in the digestive tract, so you want it working at its absolute best to stay healthy. Also, you might think of adding probiotics to your diet. I would think some would pass through your breatmilk to your child. I hope this helps!
C.

We had that same problem with our daughter. She turns 2 1/2 next month and just this past week we think we have the solution. When our daughter was a new born our doctor also recommended Karo syrup, we did not try it but there are other drs out there recommending it.
What has finally worked for us is Baby's Jarro-Dophilus Powder. We got it at Whole Foods and add 1/4 teaspoon to our daughters smoothie every day. She had her first diaper blowout EVER yesterday. The directions say a nursing mother could put in on her nipple and it's ok for young children. My SIL used it with my niece when she was 7 or 8 months old.
Best of luck!
C.
PS. Have you tried warm baths, tummy time, taking a rectal temp or tummy massages? None of it worked well for us, but all good ideas.

Hi T.-
My sister ended up having to give her son miralax. Her diet was also important. If you can consume things like fruit, prune apple juice, etc., it may help her through your milk.
Just a thought.
-E. M

My son had the same thing happen at around 12 weeks and I was so worried. I did a lot of research and also posted here on Mamasource. Seems it is normal for babies' poop to transition around this age, especially for breastfed babies. I did end up using diluted prune juice after a week and he then pooped. I found a useful article online you might want to look at. Good luck.

http://www.justmommies.com/articles/baby-poop.shtml

My understanding of infant constipation is that it is not determined by the frequency of the poops but by the consistency. My son is 4 months old but around 8-10 weeks of age he didn't have a poop for at least a week and then when he did, it was the normal mess. He did become constipated later when we had to switch to formula and his poops were very solid, almost like a grownup's. I don't know why your Dr. said what he did about it-- every baby book I've seen says it's all about how hard the stool is. Anyway, our Dr. said we could give him a little water and also suggested using 1/4 of a children's glycerin suppository. Both of those worked (though ultimately we switched formulas and that seems to have done the trick). She may indeed be uncomfortable with gas, but you might want to wait a few more days to see if she poops and if it's normal looking. I personally would stay away from Karo syrup because of the high sugar content.

I went through this with my first child and it was AWFUL! And I have to say that I think it was that her system did not agree with dairy products. I breastfed all 3 kids for a year each and went through it w/ each. Try cutting out dairy products (you might not see results for 3 days) and see if that helps her BM's! Also, I did watered down baby pear juice. I did the thermometer, I did EVERYTHING! It made us so worried. W/ the next 2 kids I started off with no dairy and tried introducing it a little at a time to see if it had any effect. A latte would send my daughter into a crying gassy fit! I hope this helps ... and I hope it's just a one-time incident because I was so bummed to give up cheese and my Starbucks lattes!

Per our pediatrician's advice, we used mineral oil rather than Karo Syrup. That helped a lot.

Hi T., my baby is now 15 mths old, but his first few weeks he was always constipated. What helped us was massaging him, I took a baby massage class and a few times during the day I would massage his stomach with warm almond oil and help by lifting his legs up and towards his chest. It help so much. I still massage his stomach as he now request it and grabs my hands for his belly. It feels good for them and it helped him a lot while all other advice did not.

Good luck.